He worked late into the nights, typing on an old laptop, matching the timecodes of the French text to the rapid-fire delivery of the actors. He had to make sure the subtitles were short enough to be read quickly, but rich enough to convey the emotion.
The challenge was not simply translating the words, but translating the soul. In one scene, an elderly woman uses an Ewe proverb about a bird that flies too close to the sun. A literal translation into French made no sense. Kofi spent three days debating with himself over a single line of text. He sat in small cafes, drinking local tea, scribbling in his notebook until he found the right French equivalent that captured the humor and the warning of the original dialogue. Togo subtitles French
Now, at the premiere of his subtitled version, a group of visiting cultural attachés from France and ivory coast sat in the front row. They did not speak a word of Ewe. As the film reached its climax, the old woman on screen delivered her famous proverb. He worked late into the nights, typing on